Well, they do say that every ending heralds a new beginning. Although this isn’t so much a beginning as it is a continuation…unless you count every individual post as it’s own beginning…drat, now I lost my point.
Oh, yeah, last time we listened to the ending theme that arguably takes the longest to hear in-game than any other, SRW 30’s with love. This time, we’re taking a look at what could be considered a hidden gem of a track, considering that it’s only appeared once in all of Super Robot Wars. Even more so if you consider that the anime series that it’s from has only appeared once.
Day 12: Song from a series that’s only appeared once in SRW – Roulette (HEROMAN) (Super Robot Wars UX)
Back in June of 2021, Super Robot Wars set the Guinness World Record for “most intellectual property licenses used in a role-playing video game series”. 274 series at the time, with more only having been added with updates to the mobile game DD. So it should come as no surprise that some of these series have appeared once and only once in the series. The oldest one is without a doubt the manga Gundam Sentinel. Four of the mechs appeared in SRW 4, and didn’t even make the cut for F or F Final.
The game with the largest amount of solo appearances is the now-defunct mobile game X-Omega, with it’s updates and limited-time events allowing for constant additions. And because of that I decided to be a little lenient with this entry. If a series appeared in two SRW games, with one of those games being X-Omega and/or DD, then it would still be eligible. However, my choice of Roulette is from the anime HEROMAN, which has only appeared in the 3DS title Super Robot Wars UX.
Staring off as a manga written by famous comic book writer Stan Lee, HEROMAN tells the story of Joey Carter Jones, an orphaned boy who lives with his sister and grandmother, and working at a restaurant to help make ends meet. While trying to fix a broken and discarded toy that he calls Heroman, an alien race called the Skrugg arrive on earth with the intention of stripping it of all it’s natural resources. However, the arrival of the Skrugg fleet causes a bolt of lightning to strike Heroman, transforming the toy into a giant robot. Now equipped with a gauntlet that allows him to communicate with Heroman, Joey and his friends resolve to drive back the Skrugg invasion and save the Earth.
Roulette is the opening theme of the Heroman anime, which was produced by Bones, the creators of other mecha anime like RahXephon. Cheery, upbeat and energetic, it has a fitting aura of something you’d hear in a Saturday-morning cartoon. And while I find the UX version to be a bit too slow on the tempo, it’s still a pretty decent arrangement. Probably one of the best songs that UX has, since the soundfont on that game is…rather lackluster compared to the other 3DS game BX.
But that’s a whole ‘nother episode. Bottom line, Roulette is great, UX’s version is pretty good, and I hpe that HEROMAN will someday appear in another SRW game. ‘Course, that would disqualify it from this spot in the future, but I’d consider that a small price to pay.
Anyway, that’s all I have to say for this time ’round. Next time, we’re…going back into SRW Original music. I know, I know, we just left that area, but hear me out. The next song is going to be an orchestrated version of a JAM Project OP. So yeah, it’s gonna be good. See you then!